Disgrace in A Book Walks Into a Bar

Jun 24, 2016 Travis rated it really liked it

Coetzee has a way of punching you in the gut so gently you don't realize he's knocked the wind completely from you and bruised you. His prose is dispassionate, lacking affect. He doesn't need to rouse emotions with language. He does it all through narrative. He's not making a show with words. He's simply telling his story. And, my God, he tells a story.

Disgrace seems quite mundane initially: Professor David Lurie has an affair with Melanie, one of his students and a woman younger than his daught Coetzee has a way of punching you in the gut so gently you don't realize he's knocked the wind completely from you and bruised you. His prose is dispassionate, lacking affect. He doesn't need to rouse emotions with language. He does it all through narrative. He's not making a show with words. He's simply telling his story. And, my God, he tells a story.

Disgrace seems quite mundane initially: Professor David Lurie has an affair with Melanie, one of his students and a woman younger than his daughter, Lucy. David is, to be honest, a jerk. He behaves like a jerk. You have no sympathy for him. He works, in fact, to make sure that no one sympathizes with him. He is a boor. And so you think, "Where is the drama in this?"

But the story continues. You get to know David better. You meet his daughter, Lucy. You see him with her, how he cares for her and loves her in his unique way. You watch him work with Bev at the animal shelter. You watch how he deals with what happens to him and Lucy. You grow to like this rather unlikable man--this man who, at one point in the story, argues that his affair with a student is simply the male instinct at work such that there is nothing in his behavior to be ashamed of and yet who readily calls what he has done a "disgrace" while willingly submitting to his punishment--almost demanding it, in fact--yet stubbornly refusing to admit to having done anything wrong. He admits he is disgraceful yet refuses to apologize for being disgraceful. And somehow, you come to love this man.

David is lost in a strange new world. South Africa is changing. He is aging. He has lost his job. And then the event: he is bemused and angered and unsteadied by what has happened to Lucy and to him (view spoiler). He cannot comprehend Lucy's response (view spoiler). David reaches out to help Lucy, but she refuses to engage. Lucy pushes David away, yet he remains gentle with her. He is baffled, yes, but he doesn't behave as we would expect a sexist, womanizing, not terribly great father to behave. He is, rather, patient. He is gentle.

You watch all this unfold. You watch the odd aspects of the story (view spoiler). You watch David work on his ridiculous opera about Lord Byron. You walk with him through his awkward confrontations with Petrus and Petrus's brother-in-law. You find yourself identifying with David, with this jerk. You find yourself loving him.

And then, the final scene: my God, I was absolutely weeping. It is such a simple scene and seemingly tangential to the main plot, yet it is so powerful. (view spoiler) But then we realize that this ending scene is not tangential. It is the key. The story, the whole time, has not been about David's "disgrace." It's about David's strange grace. Those who don't know David, like Melanie's uber-righteous parents, may well see him as a disgrace, see his actions as disgraceful. But he is truly a man of love, of compassion. But it is not compassion based in empathy: he cannot understand Lucy, yet he loves her all the same, more so, even, as he struggles and fails to understand her. He is puzzled by Bev and the work she does. Yet he loves her, in his own way. These animals--these abused, sick, forgotten dogs for whom no one cares--David comes to love even them. David is not a disgrace. He is not a moral exemplar, no. But he is a good, loving man. The real disgrace is how many people in his life fail to see David for the good man that he is. ...more

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Jan 25, 2017 Sara rated it it was amazing

The books that I give a 5 to are books that, to me, are perfect. I can't think of a single thing wrong with this book, or that I didn't like, so it gets a perfect score. The story was never dull, it never dragged, and though the ending was left open, I didn't feel dissatisfied or like I was missing something. I'm not a big fan of overly-flowery prose, so the starkness of Coetzee's writing style really hooked me. Also, the characters felt real and whole, and although I did not agree with all of t ...more

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